The program runs March 20-23 in Greensboro, N.C. The program is designed to help students perfect their camera, editing and newscasting skills.

Stiff, a junior from Jackson, Miss., and Simon, a JSU graduate student pursuing her master’s degree in mass communications at JSU, have been given an opportunity to blog for Jackson Voices.

Jackson Voices is a project of The Clarion-Ledger newspaper and The Maynard Institute, which supports diversity in American journalism. The nine-month program was created to put the power of storytelling in the hands of Jackson residents with the goal of elevating voices not often heard, particularly within the African-American community.

The program will enable people from the community to report on what they think is most important. If you would like to keep up with their blog entries you can visit voices.clarionledger.com.

Jackson State University mass communications and business students spread love on Feb. 14 by delivering gift bags filled with personal care items to Methodist Specialty Care Center residents.

2013 marks the third consecutive year that Riva Brown Teague, a clinical assistant professor in the JSU Department of Mass Communications, and her students have participated in community service on Valentine’s Day at the Flowood, Miss., facility.

Students enrolled in Teague’s classes, as well as members of the JSU women’s golf team, donated enough toiletries to fill goodie bags for 43 male and 17 female Methodist residents. Donations included toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental floss, body wash, lotion, soap, deodorant, hand sanitizer and facial tissues. Some residents also received JSU items donated by JSU University Communications, and each woman received a red rose.

Cammrynn Stith, 22, a senior mass communications major from Wichita, Kan., embraced the project by rallying her fellow golfers to purchase items to fill all the men’s bags. She also helped package the bags and shot photos of her classmates interacting with Methodist residents.

“As we ventured through the hallways and dispersed the gifts to the residents in the rooms, joy filled our hearts and faces, and you could tell the residents were very excited to see us,” Stith wrote in her class blog. “To be able to bring that much happiness to an individual with something as simple as a smile, hug, conversation, and small gift…is actually one gargantuan gift in itself and very rewarding!”

Jarvis Harris, 24, a senior mass communications major from Jackson, Miss., said he got to do something that made him feel good.

“ I will always remember February 14, 2013, not because it was Valentine's Day but for all the faces that I helped light up,” Harris wrote in his class blog. “I think we really take things like walking, talking, and thinking for granted. I will forever be thankful for the little things.”